In a veiled attack on top Congress leadership, the Union Urban Development Minister Venkaiah Naidu on Tuesday said the party has always been ruled by a “single family” that has always put their personal interest above the nation.

Addressing a meeting organised by Mumbai unit BJP chief Ashish Shelar, Venkaiah took a dig at Congress saying rivals of Prime Minister Narendra Modi are not able to digest the fact that a tea-seller, born in an ordinary family, can rule the country.

“Why can’t a poor person become prime minister (when) those who have looted the country for several years have held the top post,” Venkaiah said at the meeting organised for distribution of insurance certificates to women from Shelar’s constituency in suburban Mumbai.

Venkaiah said Modi’s primary focus has been poverty alleviation. “I myself have experienced poverty,” he said. “The government wants to focus on pucca homes for poor people by 2022, toilets for school girls and opening of bank accounts by all poor people so that subsidies given by government be transferred directly to the bank accounts. Similarly, all poor people will be insured up to Rs 1 lakh,” he said.

In a veiled attack on top Congress leadership, Venkaiah said, “Though Congress ruled the country for over 50 years, the party has always been ruled by a single family which never thought for the country but for their personal benefit.”

He said the country progressed in a real sense with highway and telecom connectivity only under the rule of Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Hailing Modi, Venkaiah said that countries across the globe are looking up to the former’s leadership because of his “capacity, calibre and style of functioning to deliver results”.

“During Congress rule, more than 25 per cent people were below poverty line, 40 per cent of women were illiterate and 30 to 40 per cent dropped out of school,” Venkaiah said, adding that the Modi government is planning to bring all major cities in the country under the Metro connectivity.

He accused “wrong policies” of earlier Congress regime for the price rise while appealing to people to dislodge the ruling Democratic Front government in Maharashtra, where polls are due in October.